The 46th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 8, 2004 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. The big winners were Outkast, who won three awards including Album of the Year & Beyoncé Knowles, who won five Awards. Tied for the most nominations, with six each, were Knowles, Outkast, and Jay-Z.[1]

Beyoncé became the fourth female artist to win a record five awards in one night. Prior to Beyoncé Norah Jones, Alicia Keys and Lauryn Hill had won five in one night. Since 2004 Amy Winehouse and Alison Krauss became the fifth and sixth artists respectively to tie this record. Beyoncé is the only one of these six artists who did not win a general field award out of her five wins. In 2010 Beyoncé broke this record. This record was later tied by Adele in 2012.

As Evanescence were presented with the award for Best New Artist, rapper 50 Cent went up to the stage. 50 Cent was nominated for Best New Artist, losing to Evanescence.

Luther Vandross won four awards however he was unable to attend due to a stroke he suffered several months earlier. Celine Dion sang his song "Dance With My Father" with Richard Marx playing piano in tribute to Luther Vandross. The song was ultimately awarded the award for Song of the Year later that night. During the show they showed a videotaped clip that was pre-taped of him saying "Whenever I say goodbye it's never for long because I believe in the power of love". Vandross died the following year in 2005.